Marking device for ropes.



M. c. DODGE.

M ARKING DEVICE FOR ROPES. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 1. m5.

1 ,21 6,964. Patented Feb. 20, 1917.

1 Comm no: fig?- tutes the marker.

curs while it is twisted is applied to the UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE. A

MILO C. DODGE, OE PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO PLYMOUTH CORDAGECOMPANY, OF PLYMOUTH, MASSaACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

MARKING DEVICE FOR ROPES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1917.

Application filed October 7, 1915. Serial No. 54,645.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MILO C. DODGE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Plymouth, in the county of Plymouth and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in MarkingDevices for Ropes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for marking ropes andthe like. In my co-pending application for patent, Serial N 0. 766,035,I have disclosed and claimed a device for permanently marking a rope byincorporating therein a strip of material bearing legible marks, wherebyinformation is permanently associated with rope, the strip and itsmarking being protected by the material of the rope itself from theabrasion which affects all surfaces of a rope when in use; I disclosed aspecific form of the invention in which the marking strip is laidcentrally through the rope and is made of ribbon-like material which isflexible transversely; and in particular I showed such a' strip made ofav fabric of parallel threads glued together, laid alongthe convexlycurved surface of the core of a strand of the rope. When so laid thethreads may become separated, by splitting of the marker, according tothe exigencies of space available between the strands, but can bereassembled so as to make the information legible when the strands areunlaid. The present specification discloses a combination of marker withrope, in which .the marker is compacted together, preferably by beingtwisted upon itself. It thus constitutes a single thread, within theinterior of which the matter printed on one of its sides is protected bythe material which consti- Any abrasion which ocback side of the marker.Thus the form of marker resists any deteriorating agency that may workupon it during the long life of a rope, because of its concentration,and its organization with an exterior armor .protecting the information.The possibility of doing this results from the flexibility orcollapsibility of the originally-flat ribbon-like marker in thetransverse direction. The twisting may be loose enough so that themarker can be compressed, out of the round form which it'naturallyassumes when twistbetween the threads of rope material, so that it doesnot interfere materially with the regular rope structure nor with theform thereof. This concentration of the material constituting the markerpermits cheaper and more fragile material to be used. In fact itprovides in a particularly advantageous manner for the use of paper forthe marker. "The method is to print the desired information on thinpaper tape, twist the paper into a twine, and run it in with a ropethread, preferably an inner or the central thread of the strand. WVhenso twisted and compacted the exposed surface of the marker becomes ofminimum area. Its own outer parts protect its inner parts; and becauseall portions of the tape lie so close to the'aXis of the tape, whentwisted, the tendency for the tape to become torn or broken when therope as a whole is bent sharply, is minimized. Any harm which may comefrom the action of moisture in softening a paper marker and making itmore liable to pull apart i'sthus minimized, and this can of course befurther minimized by selecting paper of grade and kind suitable forresisting moisture, if it be found by experience that ordinarycommercial paper and printers ink prove insufiiciently resistant. It isintended to cover by suitable'expression in the claims appended heretowhatever features of patentable novelty exist in the disclosure hereinso far as the same are not covered in the said co-pcndingapplication forpatent.

' In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a side elevation of a ropeembodying the invention, with the strands broken away at one end so'thatthe constituent parts of the rope are seen, and a twisted paper marker;i

Fig. 2 is a section across the ropehaving the strands and threadsindicated conven-- Referring to the drawings, 10, 10 indicate.

strands of a rope, each strand being composed of threads 12. The markingstrip 11 is a piece of suitable paper, printed with suitable ink,twisted into a-jinore or less round form, and run into one of thestrands 10 at the time of its manufacture, this strand being laterunited with others to make the rope. While a marking strip may be placedin each of the strands, it is ordinarily suflicient to put it in one ofthem. In the form represented in Fig. 2 it is run in *along side of thecentral thread 12, or wound around it.

In the form represented in Fig. 3 the strand has no central thread,strictly speaking, and the twisted strip is run into the strand in theplace where such a thread would be if it were present.

In both of these figures the Shape of the thread is representedconventionally by circles. In wire rope the maintenance of the circularform of the individualwires leaves a space within which the marker mayfind room'for itself-between wires next to the central thread, themarker being more or less deformed by the pressure of the wires upon it,so that it fits whatever shape of space is available. With hemp rope thethreads of hemp do not maintain their original more or less circularshape, and the marker thread finds a place among them as the strand isformed in the machine. The. size of the marker is somewhat exaggeratedin the drawing, and also the size of the circles, for

the sake of clearly conveying the two ideas of arrangement. A

In Fig. 4 a marker is illustrated which may be arranged either like thatof Fig. 2 or Fig. 3, but which is illustrated as being one of theregular threadsof the strand of the rope. If this be a cotton tapeformed of parallel threads glued togetheras illustrated in my saidco-pending application it would not be sufliciently strong toresist thewear to which the surface of the rope is subject. Such a marker may befound .more suitable for use with wire rope, being put in the interioras in Figs. 2 or 3. However used, it is somewhat thicker than the paper,and the face which carries the ink i-s.backed by a thicker body ofmaterial, and twisted material at that. Hence when the tape is twisted,with its printed matter inside, the marks which constitute the printingare pretty well protected, and are better protected than if the markerbe merely made of paper, against any eflects of abrasion which may occurduring the life of the rope due to the slight movement of rope threadson each other when the rope is bent. The corded tape also has a largerbody of material to receive water-proofing or wear-existing material ofany kind, if such be employed. If a sufiiciently stronger wear-resistingmaterial be employed, inplace of cotton, or if the cotton marker be in acotton rope, the marker might with advantage constitute one of theregular threads of a strand, and would thus become subject tosubstantially the same conditions of stretching and shrinking and wearas the rest of the rope; and would endure till the body of the marker isworn away,

which might not. be until after the other exterior threads had become somuch worn that the useful life of the rope is ended.

In ordinary cases. such as wire or hemp rope. with the marker arrangedas in Fig. 2 or Fig. 3, it will be understood that no reliance is placedupon the strip as contributing strength to the rope. Doubtless a markermight be used which contributes to the strength, but the character ofthe invention is best understood by perceiving that in its essentialaspect it does not form any part of the material incorporated for theregular function which the strands in the ropes serve. Indeed it isquite different. The marking strip, being a half inch in width, more orless, and being fiat in its normal state, is capable of receivingprinted matter such as the name of the manufacturer, the date ofmanufacture, the formula or materials from which the rope is made, or asymbol representing the formula, the particular purchasers for whommade, or any other information. In fact a great quantity of informationcan be placed upon the 'marker, and then concealed and protected withinit by the body of the marker itself, in addition to the protection whichthe whole marker receives from the material of the rope structure. Itmay be twisted at the time it is run into its strand or previously.Settling into place, it can lie along the side of a thread of thestrand, in which case it will probably be more or less flattened againstit and curved laterally around itby the pressure of the surroundingthreads upon'it and the thread along which or around which it lies; orit can preserve its status independently, very much as a thread amongother threads. The details of its ultimate form depend somewhatnpon howloosely it is twisted. It is, however, preferred that it be kept withinthe interior of the rope, and not be subject to recurring appearance onthe surface of the rope as are the threads of a strand. Although paperand cotton threads have been particularly mentioned herein, being thematerials which are least expensive and best adapted for taking thepermanent impression of ink from type, so far as I know,

it is obvious that any other material might be substituted. If thematerial were strong enough, or were of such texture that it did notfray when subjected to abrasion and wear, such as the surface of a ropereceives, the marker with its information concealed and protected withinit might be incorporated asone of the regular strands of the rope whichappear and reappear onlithe surface as indicated in Fig. 4; but a stripmade, of ordinary materials would soon: become broken on the surface andso I prefer to ar-' range the strand wholly within the rope where it.isentirely protected by the structure of the rope. I

I claim as my invention:

1. Means associating information with a rope comprising a flat strip offlexible material bearing legible marks, twisted andincorporated in therope, and capable of being untwisted when freed, thereby rendering itsmarks accessible for reading.

2. Means associating information with a rope comprising a flat strip offlexible material, additional to the regular rope structure, bearinglegible marks upon one side,

twisted and incorporated in the rope struc-- ture, the twist being ofsuch a degree of pitch and tightness that the marked side is fullywrapped in the inside of the twisted strip, its marks being therebyprotected and preserved and beingaccessible for readin when the striphas been freed and untwiste information with a.

3. Means associatin k rope comprising a str p of material extendingclose to the center through a strand of the rope, bearing legible marks,twisted upon said. twisted strip being capable of being unwound so as tore eal thefidentification marks placed thereon.

Signed by me at Plymouth, Mass, 4th day of October, 1915.

MILO C. DODGE. Witnesses:

HARVEY A. SoU'LE, FRED A. HALL.

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